{"id":830,"date":"2012-01-09T13:24:58","date_gmt":"2012-01-09T20:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theloungeisback.wordpress.com\/?p=830"},"modified":"2014-01-11T07:29:27","modified_gmt":"2014-01-11T07:29:27","slug":"vaclav-havel-victim-of-smoking-and-lung-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=830","title":{"rendered":"Vaclav Havel, victim of smoking and lung disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"havel\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a catching up story. I actually have been meaning to post something about this for a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

Last month, Vaclav Havel, the first Democratically elected president of Czechoslovakia (and the Czech Republic, for that matter) and the father of the 1989 Velvet Revolution that freed Czechosolovakia from Communism.<\/p>\n

Overlooked somewhat in the news Victor Havel’s death a few weeks ago <\/a>is that he died from smoking. Havel, who led the Velvet Revolution that freed Czechoslovakia from Communism, will go down in the history as one of the great champions of Democracy in Europe. I can’t help but notice the irony that this guy had the cajones to stare down the fucking Soviet Union, but wasn’t able to break his addiction to nicotine. He had two surgeries to remove tumours from his lungs a few years ago. Ultimately, he died of COPD.<\/p>\n

Havel was 75 and had suffered for years from chronic respiratory ailments. He was a notorious chain smoker, common in Eastern Europe still to this day.<\/p>\n

Havel spent years in prison and was the first president of Czechoslovakia and oversaw the peaceful split between the Czech Republican and Slovakia. One of the great leaders of the late 20th Century, taken too young by lung disease and tobacco. He was a great man.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a catching up story. I actually have been meaning to post something about this for a couple of weeks. Last month, Vaclav Havel, the first Democratically elected president of Czechoslovakia (and the Czech Republic, for that matter) and the father of the 1989 Velvet Revolution that freed Czechosolovakia from Communism. Overlooked somewhat in … Continue reading Vaclav Havel, victim of smoking and lung disease<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19,23,36,75],"tags":[590,148,618],"class_list":["post-830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-copd","category-emphysema","category-lung-disease","category-vaclav-havel","tag-copd","tag-lung-disease-2","tag-vaclav-havel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/havel.jpg?fit=259%2C194&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-do","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1897,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1897","url_meta":{"origin":830,"position":0},"title":"Leonard Nimoy announces he has COPD","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Leonard Nimoy announced yesterday he has COPD and put out a statement urging people to please quit smoking. Here is a more lengthy CNN article. Nimoy, sent out a tweet: \"I quit smoking 30 yrs ago. Not soon enough. I have COPD. Grandpa says, quit now!! LLAP (Live Long and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "COPD"","block_context":{"text":"COPD","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=19"},"img":{"alt_text":"2D11541427-today-leonard-nimoy-140207-vert.blocks_desktop_small","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/2D11541427-today-leonard-nimoy-140207-vert.blocks_desktop_small-215x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":169,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=169","url_meta":{"origin":830,"position":1},"title":"Former Premier of Alberta: “If you’re stupid, start smoking.”","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"December 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Ralph Klein, who was the premier of Alberta from 1992-2006 (wow, that's a long time), and was mayor of Calgary from 1980 to 1989, is ill from emphysema (also called COPD, though COPD can be more than just emphysema). Klein gave an incredible interview with the Calgary Sun about his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lung disease"","block_context":{"text":"Lung disease","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=36"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/theloungeisback.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/12\/ralph-klein1.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":736,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=736","url_meta":{"origin":830,"position":2},"title":"November is National Lung Cancer Awareness Month and National COPD Awareness Month","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"November 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"November is both National Lung Cancer Awareness Month and National COPD Awareness Month: Here's my contribution to raising awareness Death toll in 2009 All causes 2.4 million 1) Heart disease 600,000 2) Cancer (other than lung cancer) 400,000 3) Lung cancer (28 percent of all cancer deaths) 160,000 4) Respiratory\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "COPD"","block_context":{"text":"COPD","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=19"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1965,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1965","url_meta":{"origin":830,"position":3},"title":"New lungs grown in a lab — cure for COPD someday?","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting and slightly bizarre story last week (behind a bit on this one, meant to post about it, then forgot). Scientists, using stem cells, successfully grew a pair of human lungs, using one \"stripped down\" lung of collagen as a \"scaffold.\" They then painted the scaffold with cells from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "COPD"","block_context":{"text":"COPD","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=19"},"img":{"alt_text":"272763-lung","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/272763-lung.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":81,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=81","url_meta":{"origin":830,"position":4},"title":"Surgeon General new report on smoking … cigarettes are bad, M’kay","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"December 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"OK, what has gotten a lot of press from a truly extensive Surgeon General's report on cigarettes released yesterday is a conclusion that \"there is no safe level of cigarette smoke.\" The media has turned this into \"just one cigarette can kill you.\" Unfortunately, the report does contain a passage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lung cancer"","block_context":{"text":"Lung cancer","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/smoking-effects.jpg?fit=795%2C521&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/smoking-effects.jpg?fit=795%2C521&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/smoking-effects.jpg?fit=795%2C521&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/smoking-effects.jpg?fit=795%2C521&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2926,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2926","url_meta":{"origin":830,"position":5},"title":"Report: Smoking’s death toll higher than previously thought","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow, this story is a big wow. 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